Jamie Francis/The OregonianMemphis' Zach Randolph had 21 points and nine rebounds against the Blazers at the Rose Garden on Nov. 27, 2009.

The five most interesting stories, rumors and notes in the NBA:

1. A familiar spot: How comfortable is Zach Randolph in Memphis? "This is a blue-collar town and I fit in with them," he said this week. "I
haven't been welcomed like this ever, not even in Portland."

But will he be as handsomely rewarded as he was in Portland?

Randolph is entering the final season of the six-year, $84 million extension he signed with Portland in 2004. The Blazers have been off the hook for that money since they traded him in 2007 in a franchise-changing transaction.

The Blazers sent Randolph, Fred Jones, Dan Dickau and the draft rights to Demetria Nichols to the Knicks for Channing Frye, Steve Francis and a 2008 second-round draft pick. Francis was waived, and the pick turned into Omer Asik, whose rights the Blazers immediately sent to Chicago for a bunch of picks in one of those confusing Kevin Pritchard deals.

The point of the trade was for the Blazers to get something for Randolph, who had become expendable with the emergence of LaMarcus Aldridge -- who was a much better fit in Pritchard's culture of, well, culture -- while ridding themselves of Randolph's albatross of a contract.

Randolph had stints with the Knicks and Clippers before finding a home with Memphis last season. The Clippers traded him to the Grizzlies for Quentin Richardson as Memphis ate the difference (you can do that if you're under the cap) as Richardson's salary was about half of ZBo's.

Those numbers are remarkably similar to the ones he posted in 2003-04 (20.5 points, 10.5 rebounds), when he earned the NBA's Most Improved Player award, and the Blazers rewarded him with the near-max extension that is finally about to end.

The Grizzlies apparently are willing to wait and see what happens, and Randolph is saying the right things, such as, "I love the game. I love to play. It's not going to be anything for me to give 110 percent."

There was no mention of the incident in May in which an associate of Randolph was arrested in Indiana on a marijuana charge while driving a car registered to Randolph. This led to wild speculation that Randolph was a major marijuana supplier in the area, but most of that seems to have passed.

And so here are the Grizzlies, facing the decision of what to do with arguably their best player -- a tough choice for a franchise that seems on the cusp of making some noise.2. No Nets gain for Nuggets: The four-team blockbuster that would have sent the Nuggets' Carmelo Anthony to the Nets is apparently dead, so the All-Star forward went back to work, and the focus in Denver, at least for a day, turned to a far more compelling story: The return of George Karl.

There's a lot of fallout from the trade talks, with plenty of it's just part of the business quotes among the rumored parties this week. In New Jersey, new coach Avery Johnson cracked jokes, yelling at rumored trade piece Derrick Favors, "Look, a Favors!" In Salt Lake City, Andrei Kirilenko, who supposedly would have gone to Denver, said he wants to stay with the Jazz, although his expiring $17.8 million contract will almost surely keep his name in the rumor mill.

Somehow Jason Kidd even got pulled into the situation. The Dallas point guard angrily denied reports by Fanhouse and Yahoo that Kidd, who played for the Nets for almost seven seasons, advised Anthony that playing in Newark is not the same playing in New York City. "I haven’t had any contact with ‘Melo on this situation or on anything else," Kidd tells FoxSports Southwest. "I don’t even have his phone number of his email."

The Nets' failure to land Anthony is seen as a victory for the Knicks, who now are denying tampering charges. The Knicks supposedly are Anthony's preferred destination, but they don't have the trade pieces, so their best shot at him is if he opts out of the final year of his contract and becomes an unrestricted free agent this summer. Stay tuned.

3. Former Duck has beef in Houston: There have been plenty of feel-good stories coming out of Houston, especially with the return of center Yao Ming. But former Oregon point guard Aaron Brooks threw some cold water on training camp by going public with his displeasure about the team's refusal to offer him an extension.

Like the other members of the 2007 draft class, Brooks has until Oct. 31 to sign an extension or he will become a restricted free agent next summer (yes, Blazers fans, Portland could make a run at him). Brooks tells the Houston Chronicle's Jonathan Feigen:

"It's kind of stressful. I was hoping we maybe could get something done this summer, but we couldn't, so I'm stuck in the position I'm in.

"I understand, but it's bothering me. It's the business of basketball. You have to take it like it is. I'm stuck with that."

Houston GM Daryl Morey says the Rockets, as a blanket policy, are "not doing extensions." Brooks is making $2,016,691 this season, less than half what his backup, Kyle Lowry, is making ($5.75 million). Brooks averaged 19.6 points and 5.3 assists and won the Most Improved award last season.

Feigen makes an interesting point: Of the 2007 draft class, only Oklahoma City's Kevin Durant has signed an extension. That could produce quite a class of restricted free agents this summer, including Brooks, Greg Oden, Al Horford, Jeff Green, Joakim Noah, Rodney Stuckey and others -- a possible side effect of the CBA uncertainty.

APKevin Love, Russell Westbrook and other Team USA members had little time to rest before NBA training camps started.

4. All's fine in Love: There was a minor scare for the Timberwolves yesterday when former Lake Oswego High star Kevin Love had some swelling in his right knee and missed the team's morning practice to get an MRI. Fortunately for Love, no damage was found, and he returned to practice.

Still, it remains to be seen how Love and the other players who played in the World Championships fare. Team USA players competed in the gold medal game on Aug. 25, which didn't leave them much recovery time before NBA training camps started.

"I was pretty sore, I don't know if I was more sore than other guys
because of this summer," Love told reporters. "We've been going hard. This is
going to happen to some players and unfortunately it was me."

The Blazers' LaMarcus Aldridge caught some flak (mostly from Canzano) for deciding not to compete for a Team USA spot. The upside to that is that Aldridge looks very fresh and ready to go for the Blazers.

5. Ah, optimism: I vividly remember the first training camp Nate McMillan ran with the Blazers in 2005. He took the team to Linfield College for a week. Randolph and Darius Miles showed up late, and the team was full of raw players who lacked basic fundamentals. McMillan had a look on his face that seemed to say, What have I gotten myself into? That team, of course, finished with the NBA's worst record, 21-61.

Fast forward to Tuesday, when the Blazers opened their 2010-11 training camp. McMillan seemed energized and the practice facility had a buzz to it. Certainly, the first day of many training camps is full of optimism, but this one had it in spades.